Bugs, Toilets, and Hauling Water

Day 18, Friday, July 28 Our "toilet" is more or less a livingroom sized patch of jungle with dug trenches to go in, and there’s toilet paper kept in a plastic bag to protect it from all the rain, as well as a shovel for tilling the earth back over. The mosquitoes in the area are bad, and my behind is ravaged from my trips to the “crap field”. I laid in my hammock this morning staring out through the mosquito net; the mosquitoes were trying to figure out how to get to me. Some mornings it takes me awhile to get up and going - I especially dread walking through the swarms of bugs, though they certainly aren’t as bad as I thought they might be. At least I haven't donned my borrowed bug suit, I've only wore the face/head net one night. In the late morning I hike down a steep path (next to the area where we eat and where meals are prepared) which leads to the river and waterfall below. There are nice big rocks for sitting, so I get comfortable and read a little. This is where folks staying at the camp bathe, and also where the guides go to “fetch” our drinking water. Speaking of fetching water, one of the action phrases I used for our pictionary competition last night was “haul water”. I had watched a Honduran guide carry a heavy 5 gallon water jug on his shoulder, which gave me the idea for the pictionary phrase. Geoff the Australian had to draw "haul water", and everyone was fairly confused and wondering who says “haul water”? There was a fair amount of head shaking at my outdated description of water fetching. Those UK folks are very particular about how to say things. I quite enjoy many of their phrases, but they are pretty critical of American English. Caught 6 bats during our evening netting survey.